Beer: Dog Days by Two Brothers

Wednesday

Jul 13, 2011 at 12:01 AMJul 19, 2011 at 2:53 PM

Two Brothers Brewing Company started with exactly that - Jim and Jason Ebel, siblings and lovers of beer.

About the brewery

Two Brothers Brewing Company started with exactly that - Jim and Jason Ebel, siblings and lovers of beer. The pair began crafting brews from the western suburbs of Chicago in the late 1990s, and the business took flight. Today their slate includes a very good country ale called Domaine DuPage and a range of seasonal beers. Dog Days is available from April through August.

About the style

Ohio craft-beer fans are no stranger to the Dortmunder style, which has been perfected and shipped down by the heroic native sons at Great Lakes Brewing Company. The credit for inventing the style goes to breweries in Dortmund, Germany, which began making it in the late 1800s. Influenced by pilsners, Dortmunders are lagers with pale coloring, slight bitterness and crisp carbonation.

About the beer

The beer's original audience included factory workers in need of solid refreshment, so the rubric for excellence with this type of lager is whether or not it quenches thirst. Dog Days most certainly does.

In addition to its light body, finely-tuned bubbles and overall crispness, the beer exudes the slightly sweet taste of homemade bread and faint floral aromatics on the nose.